This invention relates generally to the medical treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome and more particularly to an orthopedic support device intended to help relieve pressure when the wearer manipulates the injured wrist.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common and troublesome condition that interferes with the use of the hand. It is caused when too much pressure is put on the nerve that runs through the wrist region of a person. A variety of anatomical abnormalities may be responsible for a vise-like pressure occurring in the wrist region causing considerable pain to the affected person with the condition frequently worsening and resulting in permanent nerve damage. However, carpal tunnel syndrome can be treated effectively, especially if diagnosed early, with various types of treatment being already known. Medical treatment of this ailment includes splinting, medication, or both, and with surgery also being employed if the ailment persists. Progressive pain and numbness also frequently occurs if carpal tunnel syndrome is not treated effectively with the pain, numbness and tingling being experienced anywhere and anytime. The affected person often is awakened from sleep and the untreated condition can also cause a person's grip to weaken to the point of dropping things. The seriousness of ineffective treatment for this ailment is further evidenced by the fact that both wrists of a person are frequently involved to the point even light hand tasks cannot be tolerated.
Recovery from this ailment is also recognized to be a slow process often requiring the ailing person to wear a wrist support for many months while still refraining from even simple hand movements. Because simple hand tasks can further aggravate this condition, repetitive hand movements are often proscribed despite having the wrist supported in this manner and with maintaining of the supported wrist in a neutral unflexed condition being further recommended. The conventional splinting arrangement for this condition employs a single splint member extending longitudinally along the wearer's forearm into the hand region to primarily restrain vertical wrist movement. While such restraint upon vertical movement only has been regarded adequate to relieve pressure upon the nerve, it has also been recognized that such non-surgical treatment helps only temporarily in many cases. Moreover, the single splint member for such conventional splinting arrangement is commonly secured to the wearer's arm with temporary means such as elastic bandaging or a glove support for each application and removal by the wearer. Such a multipart wrist support construction becomes prone to further movement when worn thereby failing to provide the relief sought and possibly causing aggravated further injury upon movement. Accordingly, it still remains needed to provide improvement treatment for this ailment with a modified wrist supporting construction.
It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to provide improved means for the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome with a remedial wrist support.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such remedial wrist support means permitting limited wrist mobility in both vertical and horizontal directions with respect to the forearm longitudinal axis of a wearer.
Still another object of the invention is to provide improved treatment means with a wrist support construction better accommodating the particular wrist of the person affected by this ailment.
A still further object of the invention is to provide such wrist splinting device having all parts thereof integrally joined together so as to resist dislodgement while further enabling the wearer to easily apply and remove the device.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent upon considering the following detailed description for the present invention.